Margret Qualley is the reason to see Ethan Coen’s neo-noir, Honey Don’t. She plays PI Honey in Bakersfield, CA. She walks so regally in such perfectly shaped trousers with such perfect red lipstick that she could have walked right out of a 1950’s dark thriller, which echoes Raymond Chandler loud and clear. Like Bogie at his best, she reeks of self- confidence and no nonsense while harboring a lust for girls, who easily share her passion.
Young women are dying or disappearing, a plague that seems to point to their participation in a bogus small church, headed by a young reverend, Drew Devlin (Chris Evans), who uses his church as an opportunity to seduce the youngest and most vulnerable girls. As sick as the reverend is, Margaret just needs to nurture her sexuality with the likes of MG Falcone (Aubrey Plaza), a police officer with a similar love of women.
The answer to the deaths and the outrageous professional miscarriages are answered per usual neo noir, whose seedy atmosphere is usually dark but sun bleached in similar death-appropriateness regardless of its California sunshine. What’s important to witness is an abundance of smart dialogue with the right insouciance that Bogie and Bacall would approve. Its companion Drive Away Dolls, also with Qualley, has the same mock-seriousness and I predict the third in the trilogy will have, along with Qualley.
Although this little film is by any measure a toss off, lacking the depth of The Maltese Falcon (MG Falcone!) or the more modern noir qualities of the Chinatown, it makes up in touches like Honey’s turquoise Chev SS or the obtuseness of Charlie Day’s detective, Marty, who cannot understand Honey’s consistent refrain, “I like girls.” Nor do most men in the fifties, much less macho fifties noir.
“I break into a place for no reason, it's not a feather in my cap, it's my ass in a sling.” Marty Metakawitch
Honey Don’t! is a relaxing hoot for the end of the summer and a joy to see find Ethan Coen’s voice after sharing it with his brother, Joel.
Honey Don’t!
Director: Ethan Coen (Drive-Away Dolls)
Screenplay: Coen, Tricia Cooke (Drive-Away Dolls)
Cast: Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time . . . In Hollywood), Aubrey Plaza (Emily the Criminal)
Rating: R
Length: 1h 29m
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio. Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com